SHARON CENTER, Ohio — True coffee connoisseurs usually drink only one brand, and take it only one way. But those stirrers used to mix those concoctions, bet they can't say where those come from.
The answer is likely in Sharon Center, at the Cell-O-Core factory.
"A lot of our big billion-dollar competitors got out of the straw business because they didn't want the bad PR," said Cell-O-Core CEO David Nelson. "So we're probably the last man standing."
The company was founded by Harry Davis, Nelson's grandfather, who originally made candy in the '30s. That was until he patented a machine that curved lollipop sticks — then made of cellophane — so kids couldn't swallow them. Which led to a bigger idea: according to Nelson he, "made the sticks a little bit longer and started selling them for drinking stirs," and got out of the candy business to make stirrers and straws.
Then came a manufacturing revolution that changed the world, and their business. They began making plastic straws and swizzle sticks, as well as balloon accessories with their Premium Balloon company. The company became so successful, by 2020 sales were more than $17 from selling their stirrers to just one multi-national company which resold them to suppliers around the world.
Then came the COVID-19 pandemic. Nelson says the straw and stirrer business, "was literally cut in half overnight. And it was a matter of survival."
So, the production lines pivoted from plastics to pandemic related products: masks, disposable laundry bags for contaminated items, and air sterilizers appropriately called Code Blue, which they sell to that same supplier.
"We ended up creating new tooling new molds, got all the components ready," said Evan Nelson, David's son and Cell-O-Core's COO. The shift, David said, turned the business, "into a little bit of a one-stop shop" for their distributor.
Their biggest challenge now is keeping up with all of their orders. But their ability to adapt taught the family business a valuable lesson, although one that seems to be in their DNA.
"If you just stay in your path and you don't look for other opportunities that you could excel at possibly, you're never going to know," said Chase Nelson, VP of Premium Balloon Accessories. "And you can just be wondering if your business goes down, 'What if I did this?'"
In the spirit of pivoting, Cell-O-Core says its already started making paper straws, and is now working on developing marine biodegradable ones as well.
Editors Note: The video in the player below is from a previously aired story.